The Namesake – An Overview
By: Goher Iqbal Punn

Renowned filmmaker Mira Nair is in the city of joys ‘Kolkata’ these days for shooting her film, ‘The Namesake’. Wrapped with the successful track record of movies, Nair is pretty hopeful for the blockbuster success of ‘The Namesake’ also.

After lucratively winding up the New York leg shoot, Mira Nair has begun the 10 days shoot for the India leg of the celluloid adaptation of Pulitzer Prize author Jhumpa Lahiri’s acclaimed novel ‘The Namesake’ on May 23rd.

On a press meet held some days back in Kolkata, present along with Mira Nair were UTV’s CEO Ronnie Screwvala, Lydia Dean Pilcher co-producer (partnered Mira on the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Hysterical Blindness and Vanity Fair ), and the American & Indian cast such as Kal ‘Gogol’ Penn of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and the to be released Superman Returns fame, Jacinda Barett (The Human Stain) and Zuleikha Robinson who came in limelight with her role in The Merchant of Venice, along with Bollywood’s very own National Award winners intelligent actors, Tabu and Irrfan Khan.

The worthwhile about the movie is UTV Motion Pictures that collaborates with Hollywood studio Fox Searchlight (which has entered in the movie production territory for the first time) and Japanese producer Entertainment Farm. Fox Searchlight would handle the overseas distribution of Namesake whereas UTV Motion Pictures covers Indian Territory.

Chipping in words on the shooting in Kolkata, Mira Nair said, “It seems pleasant to be back to India and am really looking forward to the shoot in Kolkata- a city that has enthralled me since my childhood.”

‘The Namesake’ would depict the creative mind and the outstanding craft of the luminous-adroit filmmaker, Mira Nair who has always given something unique and creative for the entertainment of movie aficionados and her works have always been admired amongst the cinegoers and the critics alike.

Sooni Taraporewala, a long time friend and collaborator of Nair, has penned the script of the flick. Almost eighty percent shooting has been completed in New York and the rest is going on in Kolkata now.

Expressing his views on the movie, Ronnie Screwala (CEO, UTV), “it’s an altogether a new topography for us to be associated with Fox and Mira Nair. We decided to make this film because we believe hugely in Mira Nair’s expertise and brilliant scripting. She understands the Indian and American psyche equally well.”

After a momentous foray in the Indian film industry with the production of highly praised flicks like Fiza, Swades, and Lakshya lately, UTV is also venturing to co-produce films with Miramax International, Emperor Motion Pictures and Europa Corp, after initiating the international association with Fox Searchlight through ‘Namesake’. Future projects for this gigantic production house in the pipeline are Ram Gopal Verma’s ‘D’, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Parineeta’, ‘Rang De Basanti’, the much talked about Jackie Chan movie ‘The Myth’ and Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Blue Umbrella’ amongst many others.

‘The Namesake’ revolves around Ganguli family whose moved from Kolkata to New York and their shifting from one land to the other brings to mind a lifelong balancing act to mend to an altogether a new and different world without forgetting the old. Although the parents Ashoke and Ashima yearn for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically their son Gogol is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol’s name represents the family’s journey into the unknown.

Director Mira Nair utters her views on the story of her film saying, “Namesake encompasses in a deep humane way the tale of millions of us who have left one home for another, who have known what it means to combine the old ways with the new world, who have left the shadow of our parents to find ourselves for the first time.”

The Namesake is slated for 2006 release.